


Peeling Apples

by trepkos



Category: Arthur of the Britons
Genre: Angst, M/M, Slash, Superstition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-10
Updated: 2011-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-14 15:39:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/150835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trepkos/pseuds/trepkos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Continuing from <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/148934">Hands</a></p><p>So, why does Kai always peel the apple in one go?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peeling Apples

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Ideserveyou for beta.

Kai hates the way apple peel gets stuck between your teeth. So he always strips the apple of its skin, then eats the peel, and then the denuded apple.

Till now, no one has paid much attention to his private ritual, but tonight he can feel Arthur’s eyes upon him, dark and intense.

It makes him hard.

But he is sitting at the table; Arthur cannot see.

In trying not to look at Arthur, Kai concentrates intently on his task; so intently that he takes the peel off in one piece. Then, at last, he meets Arthur’s gaze, dangles the peel above his mouth, and eats it, bit by bit.

Before Kai can raise the peeled apple to his lips, Arthur is across the room, taking his mouth in a savage kiss. All Kai can do is tip his head back and let Arthur do with him as he will.

During the night that follows – their most passionate yet – Arthur tells Kai, for the first time, that he loves him.

Kai has said those three words so many times – with only ‘thank you’ in return, else no response at all; now, he is sure he must have died and gone to heaven. 

So, every night, from this night on, Kai _has_ to peel an apple, and he _has_ to take the skin off in one piece.

He has to. 

He knows that, so long as he succeeds, Arthur will love him still.

~~

But tonight, Kai is on edge. 

A younger warrior, Daryn – a handsome upstart, and sly – has been vying for Arthur’s attention. Daryn it was, who noticed that because of Kai’s mistake in using feed from the wrong end of the storage shed, a third of their stock mouldered before it could be used. And Daryn it was, who mentioned this to Arthur.

Though Kai received no reprimand by name, Arthur has been short with him all day, and gone about with a face like a thunderstorm. 

So tonight, when Kai picks up his apple, neither his hand, nor his knife will do his bidding. The skin breaks when the apple is half-peeled. 

Kai snorts out a breath, takes another apple, and – with clenched teeth – he begins again.

He does no better with this one than the first.

An angry sob rises in his throat. He can feel Arthur’s eyes upon him; he does not think there is any love in them.

But there’s still time.

He sets aside the second apple, and picks up a third. 

He must do it this time; he must.

The knife slips, breaking the ribbon of green peel. 

He slams the apple down, and snatches up another.

~~

Arthur sets three half-peeled apples in a line along the table’s edge. “Who are all these for?”

“No one,” Kai mutters. Then he looks up, and says savagely, “Are we short of apples?”

“No.”

“Alright then.” Kai sets his jaw, and tries again, but his hand shakes so hard, the skin snaps before he’s halfway there. He throws the apple against the wall, and grabs another.

Arthur grips Kai’s wrist, making him drop his knife. “What is the matter, Kai? Why are you doing this?”

Kai is silent. 

“Why are you peeling so many apples?”

Kai shakes his head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Arthur looks at all the apples; all the broken peel. He nods slowly. “You usually get the skin off in one piece.”

Silence.

“But not tonight.” Arthur puts a hand on the nape of Kai’s neck.

Kai shudders. “Do not torment me.”

Arthur knocks one of the three apples he lined up, to the floor. “My love for you does not depend upon your skill in peeling apples.”

~~

Kai catches his breath. He looks at the mess he’s made: apples and peelings strewn across the table, and littering the floor about his feet. “Nor, I hope, does your love depend upon on my skills as quartermaster.”

“Of course not.” Arthur sets to kneading Kai’s shoulders, and the touch of his hands begins to dispel Kai’s fears.

“Perhaps you should tell me then ...” Kai turns his head. There _is_ love in Arthur’s eyes: more – he is certain – than he deserves. “On which of my skills does your love depend?”

A smile quirks Arthur’s lips. “That would be too easy.”

Kai’s heart speeds up. “Perhaps I should find out, by making a trial of all of them.”

He slides down off the bench, to kneel among the ruins of an autumn harvest’s worth of apples; to kneel at Arthur’s feet. He rubs his nose along Arthur’s hardening length.

Arthur gasps. “Yes … I think perhaps … you should.” 

He takes Kai’s hands, and draws him to his feet. “But come to bed. Let us make love, not cider.” 

~~

Kai picks at his teeth. There is something stuck between them. He pulls out a dark, curly hair, and laughs.

~~


End file.
